Iron Fist Review: Marvel’s Martial Arts Series Packs a Weak Punch

Over the first half of the
season, Marvel’s Iron Fist suffers from the same malady as other Netflix series
in that it’s too long, too fond of go-nowhere subplots, and too many episodes
could or should be cut for the sake of affording it a more propulsive plotline.
But whereas the likes of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage primarily sag
in the middle, the story of Danny Rand sags from its opening moment onward. The
series’ inert narrative is laden with exposition that struggles to match
Danny’s past with his super-heroic present in an engaging way. The show is so
dull, it practically turns the immediacy of the binge-watch model into a dare.

Overseen by showrunner Scott
Buck, Marvel’s Iron Fist is uncertain about what kind of story it wants to be.
The first few hours wade neck deep into the familiar waters of superhero origin
tropes. And yet Danny’s homecoming is little more than a tedious back and forth
in which he tries to convince others he is who he says he is. What’s worse, the
boy who presumably died in the Himalayas along with his mother and father 15
years prior didn’t come back with a definite purpose in mind, nor did he
develop a personality strong enough to overcome the deficit of a distinct and
compelling want. Several episodes in, people are still asking Danny what he’s
doing in New York. After several episodes, he still doesn’t have a good answer
for them.

To assuage this problem, the
series shifts its focus to Danny reclaiming his namesake. Even then, the
presumption that the audience would care about a company as vaguely defined as
Rand Enterprises, to the degree that an outsider assuming control of it would
be of immediate interest, speaks to the issue of uncertainty by the writers in
what the story of Iron Fist is really about.

The assumed appeal of business is
misguided, but it speaks to the character’s comic book origins and the idea
that masked men with remarkable abilities were at one time also titans of
industry whose names were emblazoned on towers of familiar and not-so familiar
metropolitan skylines. As a TV series, Iron Fist follows in the footsteps of
Batman, Iron Man, and even Green Arrow – stories that depict men returning home
from long journeys to become protectors (while also inheriting huge fortunes
and companies that bear their name). Considering the list of characters that
have come before him in movies and/or television, if anyone could have used an
origin update, it’s this version of Danny Rand — which doesn’t help regarding
complaints of the series’ casting being out of touch with present-day interests
in inclusivity and representation of groups with a marginalized status in
Hollywood.

But the above-mentioned comic
book characters and their respective enterprises share one important thing: an
understanding of what the character’s company does, or at least why it’s
important to the story. These companies represent something that puts their
significance in perspective for the audience; Stark Enterprises was a weapons
contractor, and Wayne Enterprises was invested in the future of Gotham City.
These businesses, and either their philanthropic endeavors or massive ethical
shortcomings, also helped define the hero in question and the specifics of his
journey. Rand Enterprises, however, is a vaguely sketched monolithic empire; it
represents nothing more than a want for a pair of secondary characters, since
Danny’s interest in the business, or even knowledge of it, is nebulous at best.

What’s most frustrating about Iron Fist throughout the first few hours is how
the lack of definition surrounding Rand Enterprises extends to nearly every
other aspect of the show.

Much of this has to do with the
way Danny is presented. Despite being a living weapon, Buck has chosen to write
the character as naïve, making him very much the child who was left to die on a
mountaintop. The contradiction between his two halves – the literally iron-hard
substance of his fist and the paper-thin boy he still seems to be – could have
made for an interesting, original arc, but it’s never expressed convincingly
enough to read as the defining element of Danny’s character, or the component
that makes his narrative stand out amongst more popular and well-known heroes
that have walked a similar path.

The blandness of its characters
and narrative is worsened by the dual association Iron Fist has with the
superhero and martial arts genres, two varieties of film and television that
are typically denoted first by their kinetic and action-oriented storytelling.
In the first few episodes, the series almost goes out of its way to avoid
putting Danny in a position where he would need to use his martial arts skills,
limiting the action to a handful of featureless scuffles framed by uninspired
cinematography and unconvincing stunt work. Adding to the muddled nature of it
all, the power of the Iron Fist is given only the most cursory of explanations
— a creative choice that underlines how fickle the show is in terms of what the
mystical power does and does not allow Danny to do.

This character deficit is made
most clear when the series introduces and intermittently focuses on Jessica
Henwick’s Colleen Wing, who is not only more compelling than Danny, but she has
also been given a clear and obtainable want. Colleen is fully immersed in the
world of martial arts, so when a subplot is introduced that requires she use
her fighting skills, it does so in a way that complicates the character’s story
physically, emotionally, and ethically. The idea is familiar, especially in the
world of superheroes, but at least it gives Colleen and Iron Fist a reason to
throw some much-needed punches.

It’s difficult to tell if Iron
Fist is straining to find a reason for its characters to fight or not trying
nearly hard enough. The story moves at such a languid pace through the first
half of the season, any reason to see characters engage in (iron) fisticuffs is
like water to someone wandering in the desert.

There is reason enough to
believe Iron Fist will find a more exciting gear in the second half of season
1. A later episode, directed by RZA, captures the cinematic spirit of the
character’s martial arts legacy with an energetic hour that seemingly opens the
door for more action and a more focused plot. Such hints may greatly improve
what’s to come, but they do little to salvage the leaden introduction to the
series and its characters.

Season 1 of Marvel's Iron Fist will be available on March 17 on Netflix